Shuttle XPC SZ170R8 V2: Small but Powerful

Compact, efficient and incredibly powerful if you spring for the right parts, the Shuttle XPS SZ170R8 V2 has a lot going for it. The small form factor of the motherboard does not take away from its power. Even better is its capability as a portable machine.

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Japanese cake brand, Anime Sugar, has a tradition of releasing Christmas-themed anime cakes every holiday season, and they have announced something huge for one of this year’s biggest and most popular TV anime, Re:Zero. For their Re:Zero campaign, they are not only offering some cake, but also a special Re:Zero non-alcoholic champaigne, and a dakimakura featuring...

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Sony’s attempting to cash in on the selfie trend with a phone that features a high-resolution front-facing camera and an LED flash.

Sony has announced the Xperia C3, a mid-range Android phone that focuses on letting users take great selfies by offering features uncommon in front-facing cameras on smartphones.

The Xperia C3’s feature list is highlighted by the 5-megapixel camera on the front, a trait shared by few phones from big brands in the market, with the HTC One M8 being the most recent example. The camera sports a wide-angle sensor with an 80 degree field of view, and is also paired with a soft LED flash to take care of low-light conditions, though it remains to be seen just how soft the flash is when people are pointing the phones at their eyes.

The C3 offers a number of ways to take selfies – apart from the regular software and hardware shutter buttons, users can also tap the rear of the device to click a photo, or use the Smile Shutter feature for automatic snaps once the camera detects a smiling face. To top it off, Sony has also built in a couple of features to further improve the imaging experience, including an app for enhancing selfies in real-time, a burst mode that can take up to 31 photos in 2 seconds, and even a panorama option, something that is usually limited to the back camera on a device.

“The rise of selfies shows no signs of abating – its usage has increased by 17,000% since 2012 with the word officially being added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013. We’re excited to offer SONY’s first ‘PROselfie Smartphone’ and play a part in this global phenomenon” said Calum MacDougall, Director of Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications.

Other than the pompous selfie-centric features, the Xperia C3 is mostly a mid-range affair. It sports a 5.5-inch display of 720p resolution, and is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon CPU clocked at 1.2GHz and 1GB of RAM. Other specs include 8GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, an 8-megapixel rear camera, dual SIM slots, and a 2,500 mAh battery. The phone runs on Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box with Sony’s proprietary UX on top.

The Xperia C3 will launch in China in August, and will be available in black, white, and mint color options. The phone will make its way to other markets thereafter, though details on pricing and concrete launch dates are yet to be revealed.